The other day I shared how I felt
a deep sadness that the most common experience of North American Orthodox
Christians in the closing days of the Nativity Fast is the burden of an
intensified fast. This is because the remedy
for the burden of the ascetical discipline of the Fast is participation in
daily worship.
Sadly, the traditional practise of daily worship is all but lost
in North American Orthodoxy, not that it was ever truly practised on any large
scale, although there are notable examples of such practise. Were we to attend
daily Orthros and/or Vespers we could not help but to be confronted with the joy and lightness
of the Pre-Feast of the Nativity.
Triumph, O Zion!
Make glad, Jerusalem, city of Christ our God!
Receive the Creator contained
within a cave and a manger.
Open the gates to me;
I will enter to see a Child
wrapped in swaddling clothes Who upholdeth the creation in the
palm of His hand,
Whose praise the angels sing with
unceasing voice: The Lord and Giver of life who doth
save the human race.
Dec
21 Doxastikon at “Lord, I Have Cried”
The unapproachable God in His
tender mercy approacheth me;
He willeth to be born in the flesh in the city of Bethlehem.
He receiveth human nature from a
Virgin maiden.
Let us eagerly run to greet Him,
crying out in fear:
Glory to Thee, O Lord!
He who hast bowed the heavens and
hast made His abode within the Virgin,
cometh in the flesh to be born
in the cave of Bethlehem,
as it was written,
to be seen as an Infant,
imparting life to babes in the womb.
Therefore let us rejoice,
and greet Him now with upright
hearts!
Dec.
21 1st Sessional Hymns at Orthros
Confronted with such hymns as
these, fasting – even the strictest fasting – become more of a joy than a
burden. But we cannot enter into this reality without our participation in the
daily worship cycle of the Orthodox Faith.
The real question is what can be
done about what I have called a dearth of daily worship?
I do not suggest
that folks fail to say their daily prayers, although I know that I do from time
to time. Nor will I infer that there is a lack of desire to grow in Christ in the hearts
of Orthodox Christians in Canada
and the States. In my experience most of the Orthodox Christians I have got to
know - in person, but also through social media and the wonder of the internet
– most Orthodox Faithful I have got to know are just that: faithful! They truly
love God and desire to grow in union with the Triune God – even when they are
not able to express that desire in traditional theological language. And even when they fail, as I do all too often, to match actions to desire.
The reality is that Orthodox
Faithful can not attend daily worship that is not offered, and they will not attend daily worship until it is offered!And they probably won't immediately start making daily worship services part of their lives the very moment we priests decide to give it a try! We are talking about a complete change in the way most of us in North America think. To move to daily worship in an Orthodox Temple will require on the part of both clergy and laity a "coming to one's self" as deep as that of the Prodigal Son.
When I was converting to the Orthodox Faith one of my pastoral colleagues remarked that he couldn't belong to a church where most of the saints commemorated were monastics and un-connected with "real life". There are many things that can be said in response to this misunderstanding. But one advantage that monastics do have over those who are non-monastics is that they are expected to participate in daily worship - and thus their minds are shaped and their souls enriched by the beauty of holiness that is present in our daily services.
But daily worship services are not the sole domain of the monastery! They can be served in our parishes and missions, and even in our homes. More and more the resources are available.
All that remains is our hearts and minds.
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